Day 1 of my 3-Day Chocolate Reset!

 I just started my 3-Day Chocolate Reset and wanted to share pics and my progress. For the first day, I prepared Pooja’s Chocolate Snack Bowl for myself and two close friends. I think I put too much raspberry in proportion to everything else, but I thought the snack bowl tasted really good. I was surprised how natural it tasted- definitely a much healthier alternative to the chocolates I am used to eating and def better than Halloween candy :)

Oats and Cacao nibs!

Heating my raspberries

The color of these was so pretty :)

Ta-da! I finished!

CHOCOLATE!!!! (and other 3-Day Resets)

I am officially on board to do a series of three 3-Day resets with 2 day breaks in between (after meeting with Pooja this morning). To start, I will be doing Pooja's 3 Day Chocolate reset. I will be doing the resets with a friend and posting my progress with you in the format of a food journal. As for now, any recommendations for the kind of dark chocolate I should buy? I am looking for something organic with a 70% or higher cacao content (way less fat with higher %'s!).... I also need to buy cacao nibs and other stuff - even though I had just gone grocery shopping. Lol. I think that this reset is a great way for me to start off my weekend!

Cacao  nibs -> MUST BUY AND DEVOUR!

Thinking about resetting

Pooja’s Chocolate Snack Bowl

I know I haven't posted in a while, but I wanted to know what other people are doing to stay healthy and how you are going to fight upcoming holidays treats, like the onslaught on cady from Halloween? I was thinking about doing Pooja's 3-day reset -> http://poojasway.com/article-tips/october-4th-2011-poojas-3-day-reset-chocolate/

Dressing my salad with sweet and rich Salad Dressing :)

I have been trying to eat at least one salad per day (fairly successfully). I can always easily choose the topping I want because I love veggies- cucumbers, broccoli, pepper, tomatoes, tofu, almonds, soy beans, pumpkin seeds, black beans/ kidney beans/ chickpeas, tangerine slices/ some other fruit, asparagus, and I could kee going, but you get it. Basically, the dressings mess me up because so many are so fatty and unhealthy! Thankfully, Pooja has an awesome recipe for rich and sweet Shoyu mustard dressing:

Photo courtesy of Pooja's Way

You can also click here: http://poojasway.com/article-cooking/september-26-2011-flash-recipe-rich-sweet-shoyu-mustard-dressing-for-one/

Here is another one of my fav salad recipes from Pooja that you can try (really easy to make and yummy!): 

Basil and Jicama Salad- Yum!

http://poojasway.com/article-cooking/july-25-2011-meatless-monday-recipe-basil-jicama-salad/

My 1st 5K completed + Lansky's

I ran my first 5K today (the Susan G. Komen 2011 Race for the Cure)! I am so proud of myself- I really have never been a runner, but with the support of my friend Wei and a wee bit of training, I DID IT!!! There was a point in the run where I wanted to stop, but I knew that I had trained over the 3.2 miles and had a friend by my side- such a great feeling! Plus, it was for a good cause- finding the cure to breast cancer.

Courtesy of Susan G. Komen website (komennyc.org)

Although this may seem like a silly comment, I was shocked by how many people were at the race- it was legitimately overwhelming! On the other hand, I felt like it was easier to continue without stopping because I saw so many other people in the same position as me- becoming a little tired, but determined to run/ jog full out. Also, I thank my lucky stars for Wei- my marathon-running friend hero!

 

After the race, Wei and I hit up Lansky's for brunch. I am not really familiar with the Upper West Side, but Wei said she really liked the place (which is apparently a famous "Old World [Jewish] Deli." Although I had been eating fairly healthy recently, I decided it was time to indulge a little. I really don't eat sweets every day and everything is ok in moderation. This meal was not at all moderate, which is why it was so good/ bad (delicious, not nutritious). As a the basic bread one recieves at a restaurant, we were given flaky, warm, soft-inside, crusty banana bread that melted in my mouth without getting goey. Saying it was good is an understatement- I would go back to Lansky's just to eat the banana bread- no joke. The manna (banana bread) was served with their homemade strawberry butter- they literally took butter and added in strawberries. I was a very happy girl after eating that. But, I also got chocolate chip pancakes with whip cream and strawberries. The pancakes were good, but were mediocre compared to the banana bread. I do not think I will have such a large amount of sugary starchy foods for a while, but it was nice to chow down on yummy eats with a good friend. For dinner, I will probably have a salad ;)

I will be back- for the banana bread. Photo courtesy of  lanskynyc.com

Health Blogger to Health Blogger Inspiration

The latest blogger in the Pooja's Way spotlight is named Brittany. Here is a little about her:

BLOG IN THE SPOTLIGHT, SEPTEMBER 5th, 2011: Eating Bird Food

When Brittany went away to college she knew she couldn’t gain the infamous “freshman 15″ so she began working out every day and eating healthier. When she says working out every day, this means moderate exercise daily, such as running or walking 30 minutes on the treadmill/elliptical and doing a bit of strength training (most commonly arms and abs). She definitely wasn’t doing intense workouts each day. But instead of gaining 15 pounds her freshman year, she lost about 20. Brittany finally came to the realization that the foods she was eating before were weighing her down. Having a ton of healthy options at school and not eating fast food really helped. It didn’t hurt that she went to the gym often, had to take 3 flights of stairs to get to her dorm room and did a lot of walking all over campus for classes.

That's me!

I find Brittany's story and her blog super inspirational because I actually did the opposite my Freshman year of college. Because I had been so used to exercising between 2-5 hours daily through stretch and ice skating, I was not used to slowing down my physical pace and my body decided it was time to gain weight. I was eating the same amount of food as I had been and not exercising as much, hence my weight gain. Currently, I still exercise regularly and have changed a lot of my eating habits by choosing more whole foods, limiting my sugar intake, and cutting down on wheat thanks to Pooja. I feel like I am reaching a state of equilibrium for my body and I have a much better idea of how much food my body needs and how much exercise I need to feel good. I also especially love exercise because I am a naturally anxious person and any exercise tends to calm me down and help me cope better. Plus, I know I can sleep better and am in a cheerier mood when I work out- you can tell when I don't.

5K? No biggie!

I have been waking up early to go to the gym to jumpstart my day and it feels great! I am really focusing on my cardio in preparation for the 5K. Today, my body was being very resistant to the 2.8 miles I was trying to run without stopping. I never thought that I would be able to run more than a mile, which sounds silly considering I am fairly athletic (being an ice skater and all). Then again, I still don’t find running ‘fun,’ but I like the feeling of accomplishment that I ran distance x and that I really sweat because when I am not sweating, a lot of the time I don’t feel like I gave whatever I am doing my all. My friend Wei inspired me to do the 5K and I am excited to see her tomorrow! As for how I run, I always tell myself that I can do it- running itself is not hard, but making your body and brain listen to one another is a whole ‘nother ball game. It really is mind over matter- and by the time of the race, I intend to be running/ jogging the whole time. I want to be able to prove to myself that I can jog/run a 5K (plus, it is for charity, so I can’t really go wrong). I am not sure if I will continue to run as consistently once I am done with the 5K, but I think I am going to return to doing more dance and skating related activities (given moving in and starting classes has been a bit hectic on top of everything else)! As of now, I am also doing the sidehops that Pooja taught me on the treadmill, which are really fun and switch up the same old routine of running for about 30 minutes!